Kiké Hernández walked out of the NLCS with plenty of respect for the Milwaukee Brewers - and a clear wish for where he’d like to see this run end.
After the Brewers swept the two-time defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers, Hernández didn’t hide how thoroughly Milwaukee controlled the series. The Brewers are 7-1 in the postseason and, after leading Major League Baseball with 103 regular-season wins, have kept rolling through October. Now he’s pulling for them to finish the job against the Tampa Bay Rays.
“They’re playing unbelievable right now. Congrats to them.
I hope they end up winning it all. They’re almost playing perfect baseball,” Hernández said after the Brewers eliminated the Dodgers.
He didn’t stop there. Hernández described Milwaukee as a team that kept coming at the Dodgers from every angle.
“That’s a team that’s incredibly hungry and incredibly talented. Their pitching was lights out, their offense was almost suffocating.
We might’ve had one shutdown inning all four games. It’s a tough recipe to win like that.
At the end of the day we got beat. They played better than us, we didn’t hit, we pitched well but they just didn’t give us a chance.
Congrats to them.”
Milwaukee won the series by outplaying Los Angeles in all phases, and the Dodgers never found a way to slow the Brewers down. The Brewers also came through from behind in all four games, coming up with the key hit or the key out whenever the moment demanded it.
Hernández said the feel of Milwaukee’s run reminded him of the kind of baseball the Dodgers have won with in the past.
For Hernández, though, the future is still unsettled. He just finished his 10th season with the Dodgers and said the sting of losing never really gets any easier, even for a player who has been through it all.
“Obviously we’re lucky enough to play for an organization that each and every year it’s World Series or bust,” Hernández began. “We don’t take that lightly.
It’s tough. These moments don’t get easier.
No matter how much you win, these moments suck. I’ve won a lot in my career but I’ve also had a lot of these.
It doesn’t get easier.”
The uncertainty is only bigger because of what’s coming next. With the current collective bargaining agreement set to expire at 9 p.m.
PT on Dec. 1, MLB appears headed toward a lengthy lockout, and Hernández is one of nine Dodgers free agents this season.
Even with that cloud hanging over the offseason, Hernández made his preference plain: he wants to stay in Los Angeles.
“I love this place. I’ve played for three other teams, but every time I look at my career, I obviously go back to this place.
I’ve been here the longest,” Hernández said after the Dodgers were eliminated by the Brewers. “I mean, I hope I get back.
I feel like I have a lot left.
“This year, I thought it was going to be a good year for me on the personal side. I thought once I was healed from the surgery I was going to finally be healthy and be able to play.
Of course, [expletive] happened. But yeah, I would love to be back.
“I would love to have one more try, try to win another one. But like I said, I don’t really know what’s going to happen.
I hope I’m back. If I’m not, I hope that I get to play for a winning team.”
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